Internal-combustion engine



Oct 15, 1929. s. LADLEY Z Z3 53 mun. COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed April 1,1922 WITNESSES: INVENTOR v I, ATTORNEY A second ob vide an arrangementof the character indicated above in which the quality and the quantityof the fuel Inixturemay. besimul: taneously regulated to. maintainsubstantially Patented Oct, 15, 1929 SAMUEL LA'DLEY, OF SWISSVALE,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY,A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA IN TEEN AL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Applicationfiled April 1,

My invention relates to internal-combustion engines and-ithas'particular relation to means for controlling the supply of fuelthereto.

5. My invention has forv one of its objects to provide an arrangementfor automatically I controlling the quality and the quantity of the fuelmixture supplied to an internal-combustion engine r 'ect of rayinvention is to pro .15 constant engine speed, a I My inventioncomprises broadly a governor for automatically controlling butterflyvalves j located respectively in the fuel-intake and the air-intake pies, of an internal-combustion engine. Un er normal operating conditions,

' [both valv'esare controlled-simultaneousl in accordancewith the speedof the engine. The automatic regulation of the quality and the quantityof the combustible mixture operates to maintain the constant. y

I In the accompanying drawing,"

I a F'gure 1 is a view, partially in side eleva- I tionand partially insectio r1,0f an internaleo combustion engine embodying my. invention. -EFig. 2 is a similar View, 111 enlarged detail,

.' ofa portion of the fuel-controlling means. 1

= -'Referringparticularly to Fig. 1, an"in- ;;"}ternal-combustion:engine1 which may, for '32 "exampl g be employednn connection with isolatedpower lants, commonly known as her 2, a crank case 3 and a cylinder 4. Afuelintake pipe 5, which is connected in a well knowii manner to thecylinder 4, is controlled by fabutterfly valve Gthat is commonly knownas {the throttle.v

' The fuel whichlnay bqfor eziainple',

' sen'e or. other low-grade hydrocarbon com- 43' pound-,jis contained ina tank 7 that is located "within thebase member 2.; The fuel passesthrough'a check valve 8 and a. pipe 9v having a bore-of relatively smalldiameter that o ens intothef'throat of a Venturi tube 10' to w ich 59the intake pipe 5 is connected; An air-intake engine speed substantiallyI journaled in the sides of the air-intake pipe farm-lighting p ants,comprises a base mem- 1922. Serial N0. 548,842.

pipe 12, which is connected to the outer end of the Venturi tube 10, iscontrolled by a butterfly valve 13, I

The details of the arrangement whereby a pipe of relatively small boresupplies fuel to thethroat portion ,of the Venturi tube constitutes thesubject-matter of the copending application of Newill & Dicksee, SerialNo.

= 548',806, filed April "1, 1922 and assigned to thelVestinghouseElectric & Manufacturing Company.

A centrifugal governor 14, which may be of any usual or ordinaryconstruction, is

ioperatively connected to the crank shaft of i the engine by means of ashaft 15. The centrifugal governor comprises a plurality of weightmeinbers'16 which, when the move outwardly, exert a lever action upon te slidable sleeve member 17, causin the latter to engage alever l8.- Thelatter is-connected to a link 19 that is connected by a lever arm 20 tothe butterfly valve 6 and by a link 21 and lever arm 22'to the butterflyValve 13.

7 Referring particularly to Fig. 2, the valve 13 is mounted on arotatable shaft 24 that is 12, theshaft being of such length as toextend beyond the sides of the pipe. The lever ally-operable lever arm25, which is rigidly secured to the shaft 24 adjacent to the lever arm22, is provided with a In 26 (Fig. 1) that is adapted to engage thelever arm 22. The other rojecting portion of the shaft 24 is surroun' edb a coil spring 27 that is secured at one on to the shaft and at itsother end to the pipe 12.

' The spring 27 tends to rotate the shaft 24 and the valve 13 in aclockwise direction, as 00 viewed in Fig. 1 or as viewed from the rightin Figi 2, and t'hereby'maintain the engagement-of the lu 26 and thelever arm 22 under normal operatlng conditions. From the fore-.goingdescription, it will be apparent that the valve .18 may be rotatedor rocked in n. counter-clockwise direction against the force of thespring 27 and relatively to the lever arm 22.

The details of the arrangement whereby the valve for controlling theair-intake pipe may be controlled manually constitutes thesubject-matter of the copending application of C. B. Dicksee, Serial No.550,371, filed April 7, 1922 and assi ned to the Westinghouse Electric &Manu acturing Company.

In starting the engine, it is desirable that a comparatively richmixture be supplied to the engine cylinder. When the parts are in therespective positions in which they are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, therotation of the engine crank shaft at relatively low speed would notmaterially affect the position of the ,valve 13. Accordingly, in orderto reduce the quantity of air admitted to the pipe 12 and tocorrespondingly increase the proportion of fuel in the combustiblemixture, the lever 25 is pressed downwardly, that is, rotated in acounter-cloclnvise direction, by the operator. The engine is thencranked by the usual electric generator 29 operating as a motor, or byother usual or suitable means.

WVhen the engine starts, the lever 25 is released, and the valve 13 isreturned by the spring 27 to its position relatively to thelever 22 inwhich it isillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The centrifugal governorautomatically and simultaneously controls the valve 6 to regulate thequantity of fuel mixture supplied to the internalcombustion engine andthe valve 13 to control the quality or richness of the fuel mixture byvarying the proportion of air admitted during the suction strokes of theengine.

From an inspection of Figsl, it will be noted that the valves 6 and 13occupy their respective fully open positions simultaneously. Therelative lengths of the lever arms 20 and 22 and their relative angularpositions are such that the valve 13 for controlling the air inlet isactuated toward its closed position at a rate which exceeds that ofsimilar movement of the fuel-controlling valve 6. This arrangement isdesirable by reason of the fact that the quantity of fuel drawn from thepipe 9 by the air drawn through the Venturi tube across the opening ofthe pipe 9 varieswith the velocity of the air. The velocity diminisheswiththe closing of the valve 6. The valve 13,

however, closes at such increased rate as to increase the vacuumproduced by the engine piston to such degree as to compensate for thedecrease in air velocity.

It will be appreciated that I have provided a simple and efiicient meansfor automatically controlling the-supply of combustible mixture to aninternal-combustion engine during normal operation of the engine.

The character and quantity of the fuel mixture is so'eontrolled as toinsure substantially constant speed of the engine under varying loads. i

' I claim as my invention:

1. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination with a fuel-intakepipe and an air-intake pipe and a valve for controlling each of saidpipes, of automatic means for maintaining the speed of said engine substantially constant comprisin means for simultaneously controlling saicvalves whereby they both occupy their fully open positionssimultaneously and are actuated toward their respective closed positionsat different rates.

2. In aninternal-combustion engine, the combination with a fuel-intakepipe and an air-intake pipe and a valve for controlling each of saidpipes, of automatic means for maintaining the speed of said engineSUbSllflIb tially constant comprising means for simultaneouslycontrolling said valves whereby they both occupy their fully openpositions simultaneously and the valve for controlling the air-intakepipe is actuated toward its closed position at a rate greater than thatof the other valve.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 24th dayof March, 1922.

SAMUEL LADLEY.

